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conversation within the mountains of Vermont. She thought of her horses andhow no two horses she ever knew were the same, that animals have what you might call personalities. And Looee had such a personality that you might not even call him an animal. And what’s an animal. And none of the thoughts that rushed in would she dare or be able to say.
    He kisses me goodnight she said. He climbs up and kisses me and I put him in bed with his toy gorilla.
    That evening when she was washing dishes she said to Walt I was thinking about some things today and feeling really … There were things I wanted to sort of explain to Susan but I couldn’t get them out and I don’t know if it was Susan or me or what it was. Maybe I should read more.
    Walt said those chimps I read about with the sign language. I’ve been wondering if we shouldn’t teach him to speak like that. Sign language.
    She was pensive and kept washing the dishes. Walt looked at her and thought she’s gaining weight and she’s prettier.
    There’s plenty I don’t know how to say he said.
    When he next went to Viv’s he asked where Viv kept all his old magazines, there was one he wanted to look at. Viv said I used to keep all my magazines in bags in my basement. Then last year every time I went down there I caught my son Jack jerking off. I said I’m gonna throw those magazines out and you’re gonna get a job.
    Walt couldn’t remember the name of the man in the article, he just had the photos in his mind. The library didn’t have space to keep old issues of all its magazines and Walt walked out before they asked him for another donation.
    Where do you find out how to teach a chimpanzee sign language. Walt felt his old feeling that there are people with words and people without words, and the ones with words think they run the world and the ones without words will get the job done.He thought about how he did well in life despite his failures in all those institutions that are meant to define what is smart. There are those who build and those who live off what is built—professors, councilmen, tax collectors and all those swarms of managers and middlemen making words we never needed, and all those terms of art are how they keep their sting in.
    He nonetheless wanted to teach Looee so Looee could tell him what was wrong sometimes, so Walt could tell him more clearly what to do because it was occasionally more difficult to get Looee in line.
    When Walt and Judy both had colds, Looee made them open the pantry. He got down from Judy’s arms and found a bag of onions and took it to the garbage can. He obviously assumed the onions were making them both sniffle. They made connections every day without words, but there could be so many more. Walt really didn’t know where else to look to teach him how to speak. There were those with words and those without.
    Their first couple of winters had passed in the fog of exhaustion which envelops all young families, but time was somehow more regular this winter and they were more awake to its challenges. Despite all his hair, Looee really didn’t like the cold and was often sneezy and sick—and every illness he suffered, Walt and Judy caught as well.
    He would go outside in his snowsuit for little more than a minute, and whenever he went back in he sat right by the fire. Sometimes Judy would be peevish because she needed her fresh air and she would say you know I don’t like it when you sit so close to the fire, and Looee would know it bothered her so he moved a little closer to it to punish her for taking him outside.
    He was very sensitive to the emotions of others, and knew how to manipulate them. When Judy was sad he could tell as soon ashe saw her. He would hug her and bring her something, and if she had any cuts on her hands from the kitchen or bruises on her legs from the furniture, he would kiss them. He was very protective of Judy, and if anyone, even Walt, made a movement towards her that seemed remotely